This governor may be the very one who we heard had taken my father with him, when he was moved from that fort up in the north.

He was in command at Kistnagherry before he came here, after the war, and he may have gone to Kistnagherry from that fort in the north.

You see there have been executions, but they have been those of fresh batches sent up, and the governor would not include the captive he had brought with him.

In time, his very existence may have been forgotten, and he may still be living there.

That would account for the governor's objection to answering the question, as he would be sure that, did Tippoo hear there was a prisoner there, he would send orders for him to be executed at once.
"This may be all fancy, Surajah, but I cannot think of any other reason why he should have shirked my question." He took up the reins again, and the horse at once started forward.
They rode for some little time in silence, Dick thinking the matter over, again and again, and becoming more and more convinced he was right; except that, as he admitted to himself, the prisoner whom the governor wished to shield might not be his father.
He was roused, at last, by Surajah asking the question, "Is there anything that you would like us to do ?" "Not now," Dick replied.